Two weeks after he suffered significant injuries in a training crash, young Spanish pro Jaume Guardeño remains in intensive care in hospital, his team reported this week.
Guardeño, 23, fell during a training ride on March 31, shortly after taking part in the Volta a Catalunya for his Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team, where he'd finished 29th and third overall in the Best Young Rider classification.
The 23-year-old Spaniard reportedly hit a rock in the road while descending near the town of Caldes de Montbui, where he lives, north of Barcelona, losing control of his bike and colliding with a car. Suffering from head injuries and sedated, he was airlifted to the Parc Taulí hospital in Sabadell, Catalunya, where he remains in a coma.
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According to an update posted on social media by his team, "he continues to be in a critical condition, but stable. He's under 24-hour observation and new operations are expected in the coming days to favour his recovery."
The team ended its message by wishing Guardeño a speedy recovery and sending his family and friends all their support.
A pro since 2024, Guardeño is considered one of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA's best young talents. Aside from regularly appearing in the top five of the best young rider classifications in stage races, last year he finished 14th overall in the Vuelta a España, his first ever Grand Tour, as well as taking 18th and best young rider in the 2023 Volta a Portugal, aged 20.
"You never know when something can happen to you, and what happened to Jaume could have happened to anybody," Caja Rural-Seguros RGA rider and Spanish National Time Trial Champion Abel Balderstone told El País after he placed 13th in the opening TT of O Gran Camiño stage race on Tuesday.
"You're constantly in the thick of it in cycling, with cars all around, everything. Any fall can be a really bad one. You have to be so careful."
After expressing sympathy for Guardeño's family, Balderstone recognised it may well be tough now for his hopes of racing the 2026 Tour de France – for which Caja Rural-Seguros RGA have a wildcard invitation – with Guardeño to become a reality after they both performed well in the Vuelta a España last year.
"We raced the Vuelta almost as one unit," he said, "We finished 13th and 14th overall, and we tried to help each other as much as we could."
"We thought we could go to the Tour together and do it the best we could. But now it's going to be hard for that to happen."
